Maiko100 Prompts
by BecauseSheToldMeTo
Summary: My Maiko prompt attempts for the LJ community Maiko100.
1. Hair

_Omoni introduced me to the LJ community Maiko100, so I'm going to give all of the prompts a try! This one was for Prompt #23: Hair._

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It was too short. It was _ugly_. Mai wanted to get one of her knives and hack it all off to save herself the embarrassment of being seen with it. She felt like a poodle-monkey, cut and primped in a way no self-respecting person could actually admire.

"Your hair is atrocious. You wouldn't want the other nobles to think your father has a tramp for a daughter, would you?" her mother had said in response to her protests. "Be reasonable and hold still."

Mai did as she was told, sat still as her mother meticulously snipped away at her head as if carving a lifeless pumpkin. She didn't even say anything when she looked in the mirror and stared in horror at what had been done.

"There. Now you look like a real nobleman's daughter."

She never wanted to leave the house again.

Later that day, her humiliation was confirmed through her friends.

"Got a little carried away with your knives, Mai?" the young princess mocked while Ty Lee hid her laughter behind her hands.

Mai held her tongue, but shame and irritation bubbled beneath her silence.

It was when it came time to playing hide-and-seek—Mai being it, as usual—that she accidentally bumped into Zuko on her way down the hall of the palace.

She stammered her apologies and silently wished she were an earthbender so as to sink into the earth and disappear. He was the last person she wanted to see her ugly hair.

For several moments they said nothing, standing there with small blushes on their cheeks and looking at anything but each other. She would have walked away were it not for the feeling she had that the boy had something he wanted to say…

The prince rubbed the back of his neck, the flush on his face increasing as he looked at the ceiling and muttered words she couldn't make out.

"What?" She quirked her head at him.

He looked at her, then, his face scrunching up in frustration and growing redder, hands clenching. "I said I like your hair," he snapped, then flung himself around and stormed down the hall.

And suddenly she no longer felt ugly.


	2. Royalty

_I'm taking a fictional license in saying that Ursa was a firebender. We hardly saw the woman, so who's to say she wasn't? I also did some research on arranged marriages in Japan and took some slight history from that. It has come to my attention that I can draw a further ending out of this. I may make a continuation. This was for the Maiko prompt #41. I also dedicate it to Katie, since it was her request. I'd also like to thank Omoni for looking this over for me in my time of paranoia._

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**Two Proposals**

While his chief advisor could be a bit tyrannical in his views at times, Zuko valued his advice over any of the others. Hisao knew what he was doing and had proven this to the young lord many times over with his helpful counsel, assisting Zuko in getting the nation out of its financial fix from the war and getting the place back on its feet with as few difficulties as possible. The man was a great strategist and councilor; but today the young lord looked at him as though seeing him for the first time.

"What do you mean an 'arranged marriage'?" he asked in outrage. He could feel his insides tensing.

The other advisors at the table were silent, looking at their hands or the top of the table—anything but at their lord. Hisao, however, was looking straight into Zuko's eyes with a look of utmost calm and he sat in his chair with his hands resting in his lap. "Lord Zuko, you've been Fire Lord for nearly seven months now. You need to start thinking about children to keep your bloodline from ending."

"That doesn't explain why you've gone and assigned someone for me to marry without my authority." White-hot embers kindled inside him. He didn't know why he was getting so upset over something he could just overrule, but already his hands were curling into fists on the arms of his chair.

"I haven't gone and done anything," Hisao said, an irritating calmness underlying his tone, as if he were trying to reason with a child. "Lady Airi, daughter to the late General Eito, was appointed to you for matrimony at the time of your fourth birthday. All of those in the royal bloodline are set to someone at that age."

"Yes, but it's also not set in stone." Zuko crossed his arms, his hands gripping his robes tightly. "The custom dictates that the child is allowed to make his or her own decisions, and if by the time they come to marrying age they still haven't found a partner of their own, then the one that was chosen is brought in to marry."

"Correct, my lord. Which is precisely why you're to marry Lady Airi. You've nothing to worry about. She's from a wealthy family and –"

"I don't care about that!" Zuko snapped. Where was this man's head? Was he oblivious to the one crucial thing that was so prominent in Zuko's mind? He was surprised Hisao couldn't see her image in his eyes, he was so adamant.

"She's the daughter of a nobleman," Hisao tried again.

"So is Mai."

There was a strange silence that followed this remark, and Zuko got the feeling that he'd just hit on a matter that these men had already discussed, what with the way they shot "secretive" glances at one another. So they weren't as blind as he'd thought.

Though he didn't seem as uncomfortable as everyone else with this new subject, Hisao still waited a moment for the tension in the air to calm down. When he finally spoke, it was with a more serious tone. "Yes… She is. But there's one crucial problem that you seem to be forgetting, my lord. Lady Mai is not a firebender. To marry a non-bender is to risk the chance of a non-bending son, and your son cannot rule the throne if he cannot firebend."

"Again. I don't care."

"My lord. I don't see what the problem is. You could always make Lady Mai a concubine. That way you could still bed her, and if she has any bending children, they could—"

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Zuko stormed out of the room more furious than he'd been in months. He'd had to muster all of his strength just to prevent himself from burning the man where he'd sat. That he would even suggest something like that. Hisao had never shown any signs that he'd held resentments toward Mai; he'd always showered her with the utmost respect, the respect a Fire Lady would expect. Because of that, Zuko had always just assumed..

"Well aren't you a bright ball of sunshine?" came a husky voice to his left, and the young lord halted to see Mai walking toward him. "You look like they asked you to put on a dress and dance around the room for them."

He reached out to her when she got close enough and pulled her to him, possessively wrapping his arms around her. He buried his head in her shoulder to breathe in her soft scent. The very thought of someone forcing another woman into his life just to satisfy royal concerns made his heart pound and his blood boil. Mai was his; always would be his. And he was hers. He wasn't going to let anybody change that.

She said nothing at first, allowing him to hold her without resistance. When he finally pulled back to look at her, she cupped his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. "Don't tell me they really did make you dance around the room," she said.

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

He gave a low grunt, then grabbed her hands and clasped them between his. He never felt so convicted to any one thing before. "Mai…" A deep breath. "Will you…. Will you marry me?"


	3. Rain

_For Maiko prompt #97: Rain. I don't know if I quite like the ending, but whatever. :3_

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Mud

Zuko hated being wet, so naturally he hated it when it rained. He didn't like his clothes to get soggy; they would stick to his body and grow heavy and cold. And besides that, something inside of him resented the water, the opposite of his inner element. To run inside when the clouds opened up was his automatic response.

But not today. Today when the clouds finally gave up what they'd been holding all afternoon and Zuko went to take shelter, Azula's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Wait, Zuzu," she said, holding him in place. "Instead of going inside like a baby, let's play a game."

Mai, who had also taken a step toward the palace at the first sign of rain, turned reluctantly toward the princess. "A game?" she repeated.

"Yes. A game. In the mud." Azula was smiling now. The rainfall grew heavier.

"The mud…" Mai looked down at the ground and Zuko watched as she gave a little shudder at what she saw. "No way. That's disgusting."

To this he nodded. "Yeah. Why would we want to play in the mud? It's dirty."

"Of course it's _dirty_, dum-dum," Azula retorted, her face falling into a kind of angry stare as she looked at him. "That's what makes it fun."

He found his hands clenching and cheeks puffing out in anger at her insult. He opened his mouth to snap back at her, but it was then that Ty Lee decided to step in. Or bounce in, which would be the more correct term for it.

"Come on, guys!" she twittered. She flitted over to him like a hummingbird bee and grabbed his hands, eyes shining and a pleading grin splitting her face in half. "It'll be great!"

For a minute he stared down at her in alarm, his face growing warm, then he yanked his hands out of hers and took a step back. "Fine," he snapped, discomfited and annoyed. Of course, he'd known they were going to have to play, anyway. Azula always got her way. And besides, he couldn't leave Mai out here with them. He knew she hated getting dirty; he'd have to protect her.

Mai glared at Ty Lee, arms crossing over her chest, but she made no more attempts at protesting, and when Azula saw this she smiled again. "Great," she said. "Now, the object of the game is simple." She stepped forward and pointed at a spot of wet earth some ways in front of Mai. "All you have to do is make a mud ball and…" At this she bent down and grabbed a handful of mud from the ground. "Throw it at someone!" She flung the globby mess to her left, but Ty Lee reflexively jerked out of the way with a shriek.

Before Zuko could register what was happening, Azula scooped up some more mud and Ty Lee gave a squeal of delight, taking off in the opposite direction. The young princess was right on her heels, a mischievous grin on her face. He watched them as they sped through the garden, rain blurring their figures the further away they got. It wasn't until they were out of sight, Ty Lee's giggles ringing through the garden, that he turned and said, "This is stupid. You don't have to worry, Mai, I'm not going to—"

_SPLAT!_

Something cold and slimy hit him square in the face. Through his spitting and spluttering he saw Mai standing there, mud dripping from her hands before it was washed away by the rain. At first the two of them just stood there, Mai with her eyes wide, as if stunned at what she'd just done. But then, to his shock and disgruntlement, she broke into hysterical laughter and pointed at him.

His first reaction, after getting over the initial surprise of what she'd done, was to sag where he stood and glare at her while rainwater rivered down his face and dripped off his chin, taking the mud with it. What on earth was so funny? How dare she throw anything at him!

Her laughter continued while his unhappy thoughts muddled about in his head, but a few seconds later he realized how much he liked her laugh. He'd never heard her do it before, now that he thought about it, and it was actually kind of beautiful in its own way. It fluttered in the air like a happy bird and suddenly filled him with warmth from his head to his toes and made him feel like he was floating. He found himself smiling.

Maybe rain wasn't so bad afterall.


	4. Touch

_Just a cute little idea I came up with. Not quite sure where it came from, but a lot of the time my ideas come from the black void in my head. This is for Prompt #66 Touch. Rather short...  
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It had been happening for several weeks now, and at first she'd dismissed it as bubbles gurgling around in her stomach—but not this time. This time it couldn't be anything more than what she knew it to be. There was no overlooking it.

She'd just settled in beside Zuko on the bed when it happened, and under the satin-red bed coverings she put her hand to her swollen belly. Waiting...

A small twitch, barely even the strength of a butterfly-moth's wing beat, brushed up against her hand.

Heart fluttering, she put her other hand on Zuko's shoulder. He'd wrestled himself into a comfortable position and was getting ready to curl up around her to sleep, but stopped midway at her touch.

Without a word, she grabbed his hand and guided it to where hers was. His palm was warm and gentle, and he obediently laid it flat over her abdomen. When she looked to him, his brows rose in mild inquiry—and then his eyes widened at the same time that she felt a small jerk inside, and he looked down as if to see his hand through the covers.

"Was that…?"

She smiled at him and then couldn't help but laugh at the reverential expression that suddenly overcame his features.

The rest of the night was spent with Zuko fawning over her with child-like excitement, and she didn't mind one bit just to share her joy with him.


	5. Truth

_Don't really know if this could qualify as a Maiko prompt, but the implications toward the end definitely are. xD This is definitely going to be rated T, just to warn you, because of the said implications behind it. And the bordering on M? I don't know. Just know I'm warning you.  
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**_How We Do It_**

"What?" Zuko spluttered, his cup falling into his lap and tea splattering over his robes. He cursed as he looked down at the mess.

Mai watched the scene play out with mild amusement, then turned her attention back to her brother, who was gazing at her with wide, questioning eyes. "What brought that up?" she asked.

"Well, I've asked mom and dad about it before, but they talk about it as if it's just some kind of obligation." The boy leaned forward in his chair, brows furrowing in confusion. "And if I pry into it too much, they get mad at me. They say it's not proper to talk about."

_That would be something they would say,_ Mai mused.

From the corner of her eyes, Mai saw Zuko give up on padding out the mess he'd made and look up. "That's because it isn't," he said, still sounding a little perturbed. Tom-Tom's question _had_ come out of the blue. When he'd asked if he could talk to the two of them privately, even Mai hadn't expected something like this, but while it was unexpected, she wasn't disconcerted by it like her husband apparently was. The boy was about the right age to be curious about it; and it was perfectly healthy to be.

"What exactly is it you wanted to know?" She put her cup down on the small table by her feet and leaned back in her chair.

Zuko looked to her, eyes wide. A small blush was rising to his cheeks. "You're actually going to—here? Now?"

"Would you rather we give him a demonstration? Oh, grow up, Zuko," she added when he'd opened his mouth to squawk at her. "You can't tell me you didn't have similar questions when you were his age."

The young Fire Lord closed his gaping mouth, apparently disgruntled. "Fine," he growled, folding his arms and going in to that familiar sulk of his as he looked off into space. "But I'm not going to have anything to do with this."

Seeing that Mai had won the argument, like she always did, Tom-Tom began as if no interruptions had occurred. "I have a few questions, actually," he said. "Like, how exactly is it done? I mean, I know where you stick it and everything, but is there some kind of trick to it? Are there different ways, or is it the same old thing every time?"

With every question that spilled out her brother's mouth, she noticed Zuko seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into his chair. At the boy's final, "And I heard there are games you can play," the young Lord moaned piteously and buried his face in his hands.

She didn't really get what the big deal was. After all, Zuko was no novice to the actual practice—he could be rather fierce at times. But she had to remind herself that he was rather private about things, however blunt his outward personality was. A real softie at heart—a big baby.

That didn't cause her to hold back on her answers, though. She was as open and blunt as she could be, hiding nothing behind silly "stork" stories and baby-like words. When she finally finished, Zuko's face was so red she was surprised it hadn't caught fire, and she was pleased to see that her brother was made of tougher stuff—he'd sat through the entire thing without even flinching, nodding in understanding at appropriate times as if in a lesson with one of his tutors.

"Anything else?" She smirked a little.

Tom-Tom shook his head. Then he sat back further in his chair, placing his feet up on the table by Mai's cup. He stared down at his boots in what looked like mild disappointment. "That was a lot less complex than I thought it would be. No idea why mom and dad would be so cryptic about it. Oh well." He brightened immediately, leaping to his feet with his chin held high. "Thanks, sis!" And before she could say anything else, he was bounding out of the room.

A tiny moan came from her left and she finally put her focus on her husband. "That… was…"

"Boring," she concluded for him, rising to her feet and patting down her robes to get the wrinkles out. Her legs were stiff, making her wonder how long she'd been talking for. "Talking about it made me realize how mundane it really is."

He looked up at her, blush diminishing and a strangely sly smirk crossing his features. "I noticed you left out a few things," he said—and damned him, making her blush at the implication.

"He doesn't need to know how _we_ do it," she said flatly.

"If you find it so mundane, maybe we should just—"

Somehow—she still didn't quite know how—they ended up on the floor, entwined in each other's arms.

And completely naked.


	6. Blanket

_This is for the Maiko prompt Blanket. Not quite how I wanted it to turn out, but oh well. The premise is that Katara or Sokka invited Mai and Zuko to the South Pole to spend their summer vacation with them. And Mai doesn't find it fair that Zuko can use the Breath of Fire when she can't. :P_

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He'd forgotten what it was like to be cold, to have his muscles clench like angry fists and feel as if the air had been knocked out of him without his being able to get it back—the only air he could get bit at his lungs with freezing fangs. His teeth clattered away while he curled in on himself for warmth.

How in Agni's name could the people of the Southern Water Tribe stand this? Their blood had to be made of ice. No normal human being could sit in these temperatures without so much as a tiny shudder. They walked around in their heavy coats of blue fur without any stiffness, without any bodily complaint at all. They claimed that this was actually quite warm for them.

Since he'd learned the Breath of Fire, Zuko had been able to tolerate lower temperatures. He could summon up his _chi_ and warm himself from the inside-out, the only hint of his doing so being the excess energy escaping from his mouth as a tiny flame. But not this time—this time he was made to bear through it.

"If I have to suffer our summer vacation in this damned cold, then so do you," Mai had said, giving him one of her piercing glares as they'd stepped off of the ship into the snow.

Sometimes he sat huddled with her in the corner of Katara's home while Hakoda told them all stories of his more mischief-filled days. Katara and Sokka sat enraptured through the tales, laughing when something supposedly funny was said, but he and Mai had their thoughts lost in warmer places as they whispered their private conversations to each other.

Only at night did the cold never bother him; when the temperature dropped to impossibly lower numbers, when his breath gathered frost clouds in the air and the bitter wind bit in through the thickest of his robes. He would crawl in under layered walrus seal-hide blankets with his beloved and watch as the rosy colors in her cheeks and nose would fade in the warmth of their entwined bodies. The frost from the day would melt under her touch and he would forget about the weather, forget where he was. All he had eyes for was her. She was his warmth, his fire.

And so under the blankets he fell asleep, warm as the sun.


	7. Attack

_This is for the Avatar500 community prompt #18: Cut. I'm also entering it for Maiko100's prompt #34: Attack. The ending doesn't resonate, which makes me sad, but after an hour of thinking I gave up. _

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_**No Time To Think**_

He hadn't known she was coming; had no way of being able to block the assault. Mai had seen the girl grab the dual sword from the holster on the wall, had seen the familiar mad spark in her eyes when the hilt was grasped firmly. There had been nothing she could do except what she had done.

When the charge was made, the frenzied yell piercing the air as the blade was aimed for the turned and robed back, Mai's body moved of its own accord. There had been no time given to think, no time to cry out a warning, just enough time to do what needed to be done.

The small daggers cut through the air with a screaming whir, the sound cutting short when they made contact with their target between the shoulder blades. Zuko had enough time to spin around and see his sister stagger where she stood, her dash for assassination halted. She gave a wet, guttural sound, arms lowering and sword falling to the ground with a horribly echoed clatter. Then she dropped to her knees.

All Mai could do was watch as her beloved rushed to Azula's aid, calling out her name. Splotches of red blossomed on the crimson robes.

It was supposed to have been an affable arrangement. Azula had been released from the mental facility a week ago; had been living in the palace with them. They'd had pleasant—if not awkward in the beginning—dinners together in the evening. She'd been calm enough, just a bit reserved, and had shown no signs of her previous mental instability. Zuko had even stopped having guards with them to make her feel more comfortable. Tonight they'd been planning on talking around the fireplace, just a private evening.

Guards were gathering in the room in droves, weapons readied even though there was obviously no threat—not anymore. She stood there as they brushed past her, Zuko's shouts and the noises of the men blurring together in her ears.

Adrenaline drained out of her like a broken dam and soon a weariness like no other washed over her. Her legs gave out and next thing she knew she was kneeling on the ground, staring at the floor. Zuko was by her side, saying her name.

The act had involved no thought; the taking of someone's life requiring nothing but instinctual action. The look in Azula's eyes had been enough to trigger something in Mai's mind, the flash of realization that Zuko was about to be killed.

There had been no time to think.


	8. Home

_This is for the Maiko prompt #71: Home. Bit of a continuation to my Just a Little Oblivious one-shot. This is involves Mai's nesting instincts. :3 It's a bit more telling than it is showing, but I rather like it._

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**Preparing the Nest**

The Peace Council had gone as well as to be expected, all of the world's leaders having shown up personally in Ba Sing Se to discuss matters of international importance. It had been the first time in many years for someone from the Fire Nation to participate, and that had only made the situation more awkward for him. He'd been more than relieved when Aang had walked in—looking so much older than he remembered—and sat down beside him in the Earth King's Council Chamber. Though he hadn't seen Aang in over a year, he'd immediately felt more at home with the young man sitting next to him and giving him additional support.

But even though the Council had played out well, the other Nation Leaders treating him with civil, albeit wary, respect and kindness, he couldn't have been more happy when he stepped off of the ship onto Fire Nation soil once more. He'd only been in the Earth Kingdom for two months, but the time away from home—mainly Mai—had been enough to make it seem like he'd been gone for an eternity or more.

It'd been hard accepting the invite to attend the Council in the first place. Mai had been seven months into her pregnancy when he'd received it and he hadn't been disposed to leaving her side for any reason. But a letter from Aang had asserted that it was more than crucial that he attend. Mai hadn't been very understanding, especially in her ever-increasing hormonal state, and had nearly castrated him when he'd told her.

But that had been over a month ago, and the whole time he'd been gone he'd been unable to get her out of her mind—and hadn't really tried to. Was she all right? Was the baby all right?

When the palace rose into view from where he sat in his palanquin, he was relieved to see that it and the rest of the Capital City was still in one piece. There was something amiss, however, which he noticed the moment he stepped off into the courtyard.

Servants and guards were both actively running here and there across the courtyard, carrying various pieces of furniture and decorations from the palace. This was strange, especially since at mid-day during the summer they were usually nowhere to be seen outside in this sweltering heat.

Zuko blinked a few times, then hailed one of the frantic servants with a wave. The man was carrying a potted plant of some kind, some of the soil spilling down onto the cobblestones as he tried to balance it while he walked. He was out of breathe and red-faced, sweat drenching his clothes and running down his face.

"Welcome home, milord," he said hurriedly, feet dancing beneath him as though he were ready to dash off again the moment he could. He made as if to bow until he remember what he held, and instead gave a nod. "So good to see you had a safe trip. Was the weather nice there? What can I do for you?"

The young lord stared at him, incredulous, and then asked, "What is all this?"

"All of what, milord?" The man's eyes darted to the left in direction he'd been headed before he'd been called, oblivious to Zuko's problem.

"What's going on? Why is all of the furniture being moved?"

"Oh." The servant now looked at him with eyes that Zuko only just noticed were blood-shot. "Well, you see, the Lady Mai has ordered that the entire palace be redecorated, and has been rather… unshakable on the idea. She's also very hasty about it, so it's imperative that I have this Dwarf Willow taken to the private corridors as soon as—"

"What?" Zuko blurted out. This man was making no sense. Redecorate the entire palace? Dwarf Willows? Was this some kind of joke? "Where's Mai?"

"Um, I believe she's in the back gardens, organizing the—"

His feet were already taking him toward the gardens before the man could finish, and he noticed that instead of following to see if his lord needed anything else, he was already darting away toward the side of the palace.

The interior was unrecognizable from what it had been a month ago. Statues had been moved, walls repainted to look more vibrant, tapestries removed and replaced. Carpet that hadn't been in certain places before was now seen almost everywhere. Here and there servants were seen cleaning places that were already so polished he could see their ragged expressions reflecting back at them.

When he reached the gardens, he stopped in his tracks to stare. Mai stood a few feet away, her back facing him, and she was directing about thirty servants at the same time, all of whom were running around like lost rodents, trying to make sense of her commands. One servant came running up to her and worriedly whispered something, to which she immediately shouted, "I don't care if it's attached to the floor, detach it!" and the servant bowed and ran off in a panic.

When he'd seen enough, Zuko stepped forward. "Mai!" he said. "What in Agni's name are you doing?"

His heart lifted a few feet when she turned to him—he hadn't seen that beautiful face in over a month—but it immediately sank back down when he saw the feeling was not neutral.

"What am I _doing_?" she asked. "While you were off for a month on your little peace vacation, I've been stuck here trying to get the palace ready for our new baby. Or did you forget that it's only one month away?"

"The palace is already ready for the baby," he said, puzzled. "We had the nursery set up long before I left. And it wasn't a vacation."

"Whatever."

Deciding this was just another hormonal thing, Zuko tried to shrug it off, though he could feel the ever-present temper starting to bubble in his gut. He watched as three guards ran past with bags of komodo-rhino fertilizer slung over their shoulders; watched two Royal Guardsmen as they worked meticulously away at pulling the weeds out from around the turtleduck pond; men who were meant for more important ordeals doing menial things. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I missed you," he managed awkwardly, trying to ignore the fact that he had just seen a servant immerge from beneath the surface of the pond with handfuls of muck grasped tightly. Was she trying to _clean_ mud? He turned his attention to his wife, taking in her swollen belly beneath her loose robes. She looked ready to pop.

She ignored him, of course, continuing to shout orders to those across the way and reprimand those that weren't doing exactly what she wanted. She was terrifying, but he couldn't help but step closer and cautiously place his hand on her shoulder. To his surprise, she didn't pull away, and instead he felt a small shudder pass through her at his touch. She even stopped mid-yell.

He smiled. How could he not? So she _had_ missed him; missed his touch as much as he missed hers. Suddenly it didn't matter that she was crazy, that she was abusing their entire palace staff, all that mattered was that he was home and that she was here and that she still wanted him despite her being so crazy.

"I missed you," he repeated, pulling her to him and never letting go.


	9. Lost Pt 1

This is for Maiko100's prompt #94: Lost. It's the first part of a two-part piece I'm doing. The second part is #95: Found.

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**Making Time**

"It's been a long time since you've played with Suzume."

"I know."

"She misses spending time with you."

Zuko's heart constricted with guilt. He rolled over to face Mai in the dark of their room. "I've been so busy lately," he said. He felt around under the covers until he found her hand, then held it tight as if he could relieve some of his guilt through physical contact. Then he laughed, though there was only sarcasm in the noise. "I'm the Fire Lord and I can't even make time to spend with my own daughter."

"Zuko." Mai moved closer to him, her face now so close that their foreheads touched. He could make out the sympathetic glint in her beautiful eyes. "You're allowed to be you every once in a while. Fire Lord isn't your only title. You're also a father."

He sighed and closed his eyes, reveling in the feel of her warm breath on his face. In the darkness, alone with Mai, he felt that anything was possible. Her words cleared the clouds in his mind. "A father," he repeated, always liking the feel of the word on his tongue. It no longer brought horrible memories of the past. Now there were images of tiny hands enclosed in his, of golden sparkling eyes, of laughter so pure he felt the sun's warmth in it. "I prefer that title."

Mai laughed softly, her lips brushing across his. "Take the day off tomorrow," she said. "Forget about the world for one day. Spend time with Suzume and I."

He opened his eyes. "But Mai," he said, smiling. "You two _are_ my world."


	10. Found Pt 2

_Prompt #95: Found. Continuation to #94: Lost. Inspired by a href=.com/watch?v=PVzAF0e4Ks0 this/a song. It just really fit Zuko's fatherly love for his young, innocent daughter. It's kind of a musical portrayal of how he feels when he sees her interacting with the world. At least in my eyes. :3_

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**Hide and Seek**

"No peek." Suzume frowned up at him with furrowed brows, a tiny finger pointing in accusation. She looked so serious, as if she truly expected him to be the type of person to cheat.

From beside him Mai laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Suzume," she said. "Mommy will make sure your father doesn't peek." Soon her hands were on his face, covering his eyes, and he blinked behind his new mask of soft fingers. Then he smiled.

"I promise," he said, holding his hands up in surrender. "No peeking."

A small giggle and then the sound of tiny feet rushing across the wooden floor and out of the room. When the sound of retreating footsteps could no longer be heard, Mai slid her hands away from his eyes and he stared at the now-empty room.

"How long was I supposed to count for again?" he asked. As crazy as it sounded, he missed Suzume already. He wanted to eat up as much of her laughter as he could, soak it in like the sun's rays. He wanted to simply hold her in his arms for hours and marvel at her shining golden eyes. But she had wanted to play hide and seek.

"Doesn't matter." Mai edged closer to him on the end of their daughter's bed and followed his gaze. "I usually give her about thirty seconds. Just make sure to shout out random numbers if you hear her running around nearby."

"What if I can't find her?"

"Zuko, she's a two year old, not a chameleon-gecko."

"Right." He looked restlessly around at the room, taking in the stuffed dragons on the floor and the other various toys scattered about. A year ago, this room would have felt foreign to him; filled with things of a childhood he'd never had, but now it brought warmth and loving memories, even pride for the life residing that resided in it.

It had been thirty seconds now, hadn't it?

Probably because she noticed his fidgeting hands and wandering eyes, Mai laughed softly and nudged his arm. "Come on," she said. "Time to look."

He was up in an instant.

* * *

The palace halls were strangely silent as they walked through them. He kept his eyes open for anything unusual, but so far there was nothing. Mai seemed to know exactly what to look for, barely glancing at the giant porcelain pots that could so easily fit a two year old and that Zuko went out of his way to glance into just in case every time they passed one.

"Think," she finally said with a sigh when he stopped to look into what felt like his hundredth pot. "How could she be in one of those? They're taller than she is."

"Well, I don't see you finding her," he huffed. "We've searched the nearly the entire hall and—" Mai held her arm out so quickly he walked into it with a loud grunt. "What was—"

She put her finger over her lips in a shushing motion, then pointed at something a few feet away, which he immediately glanced at.

Two small bare feet were poking out from under an unnaturally lumpy curtain near the end of the hall. As he and Mai neared it, the curtain shifted a little and the feet rolled back onto their heels with the little toes curling inward.

Just the sight of those little toes, of the innocence his daughter had in thinking she could not be seen, made his heart swell inside his chest. So this is where she had been hiding this whole time. Mai might have been right in saying their daughter wasn't the best of hiders, but he still saw this as one of the best hiding places in the world for the simple fact that Suzume had picked it.

He went to grab her, to pull the curtain back and smother her with the love he felt this very moment, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Mai looking at him with a frown, though her eyes were twinkling.

"Great, Zuko," she said in her usual monotone, though slightly louder than usual. "You led us all the way to the end of the hall for nothing. I told you we should have gone down the servant's quarters." And with that she turned and started to walk away, leaving him standing there in mild confusion.

It was only when she turned back to him, brows raised in a "Well? Are you coming?" sort of way, that it dawned on him what she was doing. "Oh! Uh.. yeah. I guess I was wrong," he said.

As he walked away, he could hear near-suppressed squeals of excitement from behind the curtain, and he felt his heart melt at the sound.


	11. Beginnings

_This was originally meant to be for my secret Valentine over on LJ, but it was too long, so I decided to dedicate it to my avid readers. Happy Valentine's Day!_

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_**Why Are You Crying?**

She sat huddled in the corner of an empty corridor, arms wrapped around her knees as her tears stained her silk skirts. Her mother would scold her for ruining her clothes, but she couldn't stop. The sadness that had festered within her breast was now seeping from her like thick blood from a painful wound. It terrified her that she was crying, a voice similar to her mother's in the back of her mind reprimanding her for doing it. Crying was weakness and didn't accomplish anything.

There wasn't even a real explanation to it, either. She had been sitting back against the tall willow tree outside, having detached herself from her friends, as per usual, to watch as they cavorted around the gardens. But today, as she'd listened to Ty Lee laugh without any constraint, watched Azula as she threw rocks at the ducks in the pond with no one scolding her, something grew inside her.

At first she'd thought it was anger, the way her hands had curled into little fists in her lap, but that hadn't made sense because when she had tried to focus on who she was angry at, nothing came to mind. Then the sadness had come, an overwhelming darkness that had threatened to swallow her whole and she'd had to excuse herself with the lie that she had to use the restroom.

And now here she was, breaking down in a hallway and hating herself for it. It was all she could do not to make any noise, holding in the sadness as best she could and just allowing it to escape in rivers down her face.

And then one of the worst things that could happen happened. She must have been too caught up in her sorrow to have heard him approach because before she knew it a voice directly in front of her cut through her thoughts.

"What are you doing?" it asked, and she lifted her head from her knees to see the young Prince standing before her, brows quirked a little in confusion. When he saw the tears on her face, his eyes widened a bit and he blushed and looked away from her. "Oh."

She'd never actually seen the Prince up close before, only glimpses of him around the palace with his mother, but she knew who he was. How could she not? He had the same golden eyes as Azula, though different somehow. Not to mention he was wearing the clothes only a Prince could wear. To be honest, he wasn't much to look at, but she averted her eyes as was proper his status and blushed a little herself.

Was he going to get mad at her for hiding in the palace? Make fun of her for crying? Was she supposed to bow to him, though she wasn't in the proper position to do so?

"I'm s-sorry," she managed to say through her sniffling. She looked around for something to wipe her eyes on, then settled on her sleeves—her outfit was ruined anyways. Already she could feel her mind retreating behind the familiar aloofness she was so well-practiced in. It attempted to smother the blackness in her breast but only managed to hold it back. As she moved into a clumsy bow, she added, "I'll leave immedia—"

"What happened?" he suddenly asked, cutting her off as if he hadn't even heard her. Despite protocol, she gazed back up at him and saw that he was talking to the floor.

"What?"

Still addressing the floor, he said, "I meant," here he took a deep breath as if what he was about to ask were complicated, "Why are you crying?"

"Oh." She looked away, the heat burning ever hotter on her face. What right did he have to ask, besides being the prince? But she had to answer him, because of that one fact. And she couldn't deny that she had been crying. What could she say, though? She wasn't even sure why she was crying. So she put up her chin and said, if a bit more harshly than she'd meant to, "I don't know, your highness."

The answer seemed to upset him, or maybe it was the way she had said it, because his cheeks puffed out a little and his fists clenched. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he snapped, and made as if to storm away, but when he had stepped some several paces down the hall, he suddenly stopped and spun around. "Did Azula hurt you?"

Her mind went blank. What had even led him to think that? He looked genuinely concerned, if not still a bit upset from a few seconds ago, so she decided to not add a hint of incredulousness to her voice when she answered, "No."

Prince Zuko's shoulders, which she hadn't even noticed had been tensed, relaxed a little at this. His actions confused her, but she said nothing, which led to a silence that carried through the hall for a few minutes, the prince staring at her with his brows now furrowed as if he was struggling with something inside his head.

Just when she thought her legs would cramp up forever because of the awkward position she was kneeling in, he seemed to come to some sort of decision. He puffed out his cheeks and chest, that blush blossoming on his face again, and came to her before holding out his hand for her to take.

She stared at it as if she'd never seen a hand before, mind blank again for what to do or say. When he huffed a little and thrust it toward her further, his intentions finally clicked and again she felt her face warming. She timidly reached out and took it and he helped pull her to her feet.

They stood there, his warm hand grasping her small one and her feeling like no time was passing at all, then Zuko jerked back and they were apart once more. Her heart fluttered and her mouth opened to thank him, but like before, he cut her off as if unaware, or as if he were afraid of what she'd say.

"You'll need some new clothes," he said, looking away at the wall to avoid her eyes.

She looked down at her skirts in surprise, having forgotten their stains, then glanced back up at him. "No, it's fin—"

"I'll have the servants bring you some. Just stay here a minute." He seemed suddenly excited to do something for her, despite his not being able to look into her face, and she swore she saw the briefest flicker of a smile on his lips before he turned to race down the hall and out of sight.

_Boys are weird_, she thought, but a hidden light bloomed in her breast and the darkness from before was suddenly gone.


	12. Ashes

_A Valentine to someone at atlaland on LJ. It also works for Prompt #81: Ashes of Maiko100. It's just a really silly drabble I came up with. I have this funny mental image of Zuko catching fire and as he does the "stop, drop, and roll", he's shouting, "EVERYTHING'S OKAY, MAI. NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. DON'T COME BACK! -rollrollroll-" Zuko may be a great firebender, but he apparently can't cook for beans.  
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**Cookies**

Mai was used to waiting for long periods of time having been brought up in the family that she had, so when Zuko told her to stay put while he went back into the kitchen of the Jasmine Dragon, she did so without any real complaint. At first she just watched as the last customers of the night came and went, but that grew boring very quickly and she soon settled into a comatose-like stare at the table as she fondled the sharp blades of the knives tucked away in her sleeves.

It was when a whole hour had passed that her boredom grew to intolerable levels. The tea shop was now completely empty, Iroh having closed up twenty minutes prior, and she was left alone in the quiet of the spacious room. Noises had been coming from the kitchen for the last half an hour, the clattering of pans and other kitchen appliances, along with the occasional curse from her husband.

Honestly, she had no idea what he was doing back there. He'd given no hint when he'd sat her down and told her not to move. The only thing she could think of was that he was trying to make her some tea, but it made no sense, really. He may not have inherited the tea-making skills his Uncle had, but he had learned to make a decent cup in the last year. It never took an hour to make tea.

She was just about to get up and go see what he was doing, when a strange smell suddenly hit her. Something was burning, and she had a good idea as to who was responsible. Following this there was a curse even louder than before. Before she knew it, clouds of black smoke were billowing out of the back room. She rolled her eyes and got to her feet, and as if he sensed her approaching there came the sudden yell, "It's okay! Don't came back here, Mai! Nothing to worry about!"

Moments later, Zuko emerged with a blackened tray that had neat little rows of ash piles laid out on it. He looked very disgruntled, a large frown on his face. His robes and face were black and little tendrils of smoke trailed out from his partially-lit sleeves. "I tried to make you some cookies," he said. "Aang gave me the recipe and I thought I'd try it out."

She looked to the tray, then back up at him. She was reminded of the time he'd dropped the snow-cone in her lap on the beach, but she felt it better not to make him feel any worse than he did. It was actually really sweet, his attempt, despite his having made her sit around for an hour.

She walked up to him and smiled, wiping some of the soot from his face. Soon the tray lay forgotten on a table and the two of them were making love behind the counter in the back. Screw cookies when she had a great husband.


	13. Dark

_Little something I did for a friend's birthday on LJ. I discovered I could also use it for the Maiko100 prompt #75. It's been a while since I've updated, so enjoy!_

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_**Night**_

Mai was a night-owl, had been ever since she was little. Unlike other children, the dark had always made her feel safe. It had sheltered her from the world in a soft blanket of black, whereas the sun had exposed her to her parents' constant reprimands and scornful glares.

Night was a friend that held her when she cried her troubles into her pillow, that watched without judgment as she smiled or laughed quietly about her secret dreams, that helped her wander the halls of her house by making secret corridors of darkness that she alone knew how to walk without stumbling. Night was comfort, safety, freedom.

And in her older years, it had evolved into something even more. With it now came the love of her life, wrapped tightly around her in bed. Night was warm skin, hushed whispers of love and love-making. Night was a time just for her and her beloved. No one else.

Night was, and would always be, her sanctuary.


End file.
